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May 26, 2018

US secretary of state Mike Pompeo pushes for CAATSA waiver so that countries like India aren't affected

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has urged the Congress to provide
the necessary waiver so that its sanctions on Russia under CAATSA does
not impact countries for which it is not intended for.

Provisions
of the Countering America’s Adversaries Through Sanctions Act (CAATSA)
threaten India and several other close friends and allies of the US with
sanctions. CAATSA is a U.S. federal law that imposed sanctions on Iran,
North Korea and Russia. It includes sanctions against countries that
engage in significant transactions with Russia’s defence and
intelligence sectors.

India is planning to purchase five S-400
Triumf air defence systems for around $4.5 billion from Russia, which
U.S. officials say could be considered as a significant military
purchase.

“Will you make a commitment that you’ll help [Defence]
Secretary [Jim] Mattis get the waivers that he needs in order to make
sure that these sanctions don’t hit folks that were not intended to be
harmed by these sanctions?” Pompeo asked Senator Robert Menendez,
Ranking Member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee during a
Congressional hearing on Thursday.

Mr. Pompeo was referring to
the letter written by Mr. Mattis to the Congress in which he has sought
waiver for certain countries from CAATSA legislation, which was signed
into law by the U.S. President Donald Trump in August 2017.

Under this any significant purchase of military equipment from Russia would attract American sanctions.Mr. Mattis recently wrote a letter to the Congress seeking waiver for certain provisions.

“I know it’s not my day to ask questions, but it is my day to ask for things that I think we need,” Mr. Pompeo said.

Mr.
Menendez, a strong advocate of CAATSA sanctions, urged Mr. Pompeo to go
ahead with the sanctions. He remained non-committal to waiver move.

“I have to see the specifics of what Secretary Mattis wants,” said the Democratic Senator from New Jersey.

“I
also have to say, if we’re going to allow countries that are
sanctioned, because we believe in the sanctions policy, and they want to
get off the hook because there’s some other benefit, well then we begin
to erode the sanction policies and we pick and choose. And other
countries will seek the same questions. I’m open to listen to it. But it
has to follow, in essence, what our policy is trying to achieve,” Mr.
Menendez added.